OPRAH'S 40 MILLION $ CHARITY - Page 2

I think since its her money she is free to do whatever she pleases to do with it...but i totally agree with her about what she said about how kids in America dont respect and acknowledge the privelge that they have of free eduaction...i go to a public high school and half of my class spend double the money on one pair of sneakers then they do on all their school supplies...and now adays high school kids are more interested in trying new drugs then taking advantage of the free education that they take for granted....plus i also think that South Africs kids will give more respect to the education they will recieve along with the extra luxries that will b provided in their school...which is also kind of unique

Originally posted by: sareg

  would love to visit the critics at their Tax times and tell them how they should have spent their charitable contributions😉.

 I wonder if  Uncle Sam - the taxman will allow this as a deduction..😕 😉

It's her money - she can do what she wants with it. I think kids in Africa need all the help they can possibly get. I dont understand why even when you do good deeds, people have a problem. People here love to complain, complain, complain.   😕 

Most people here who are in a position to make a difference in other people's lives would never travel to such locales, would not have much of an awareness of the needs in other parts of the world. Oprah's gesture will definitely bring out an awareness. I am so glad she does what she does. 

Although - the money spent on building the spa could have been better utilized on something else. 

Originally posted by: lighthouse

 I wonder if  Uncle Sam - the taxman will allow this as a deduction..😕 😉

she donated the money, someone is going to benefit from it

yup that is how a charitable contribution is defined in this part of the world😉

Originally posted by: lighthouse

Another celebrity achieving philanthropy with extravaganza...!!!! Brilliantly satisfying inner altruist in true celebrity style..!!!!!

Although I agree about her comment on inner city school kids wanting sneakers and kids in Africa wanting education.

You said it all! 👏👏

Originally posted by: lighthouse

 They say a celebrity will not do anything for free... How true... She may have spent 40 mil but as far as I am concerned she has helped only 152 girls which is no big deal for someone worth 100's of millions. She ain't getting credit for 40 mil from me....

 Bill gates and Buffet have charitable foundations worth billion$ that help over a billion ppl all over the world and they don't create news like this.

So What if she created news or so what if she cud help a million other people. She chose to help 152 girls the way she chose to with her money. If other people had donated money and she had used their money to spend on spas then whatever they can criticize her. But this is all her money. she chooses to help 152 girls, good for her.

I didnt realize that helping 152 girls is not a big deal anymore and that other people have a right to her money. She has a responsibility to give it away. I thought whoever spent on charity, no matter how much they cud spend, did something good. Its about giving and not about how much others think she shud give. I totally support her, its her money and her choice on how to spend it and who and how many people she wants to help.

And btw those 100s of millions of dollars are made of her work and belong to her, she doesnt owe anyone a single cent. So if she decides to spend 40million then thats great. she doesnt owe it to anyone to spend that 40million. It is a big deal that she chose to spend her money helping others, and even if she did it for fame I still applaud her. I dont know too many people who go around giving away 40million dollars even if for fame. I care about the end result that people got helped, not that Oprah did it for fame, or not that more people could have been helped. It is mainly that she helped someone when she didnt. have to.

it's her money, she can spend it however she wants to, but i also think if she truly thought about how many more people she could have helped and saved, she would have spent her money the other way= not extravagant.

about the kids in US not caring much about education: it is because US kids have all the opportunities,etc to study and get jobs, the south african kids don't . they are different cultures. i can bet u that if the kids in south africa had money and education first, they would want some ipods, cool sneakers too later on. we are all human and we will be materialistic after we have our necessities. this doesn't mean we forget the importance of education, but just that we can add luxury to necessity bc we have money. the south africans children would do the same if they had their necessities fulfilled.

Originally posted by: mkzara

I didnt realize that helping 152 girls is not a big deal anymore and that other people have a right to her money. She has a responsibility to give it away.

 If compared to what Oprah regularly gives to her studio audience  -cars, laptops, ipods, spa treatmnents and many high ticket items, helping just 152 girls seems like no big deal.

 No one is disputing her right to her own money but someone so shrewd,intelligent and powerful enough to make a difference to a lot of ppl uses 40 mil$ to help just a few girls, one wonders what happened to doing deed for the greater good. Like the article said she could have helped 8000 schools....

 I am thinking from the pov of the girl (153rd) who did not make the selection.

 

Edited by lighthouse - 17 years ago

Oprah has spend her own money for a noble cause, though definitely that sounds extravagant. Somehow I feel in a mixed way.

May be she is right in building the school in SA, an environment which is different from USA. May be she visioned something different for them which hardly any American-African or African can ever dream of enjoying and achieving in their life. Instead of helping thousands and make thousands of mediocre people she has chosen 152(hand-picked by herself) in order to make some well-recognized world-class people by studing in her world-class prestigious school. May be in turn, that kind of good education and growing up in that kind of environment will help them to help the people of their own community in a big way like Oprah.

Also feel with that amount of money she could have helped a lot more people. To be a part of a "rich and famous" crowd one need to go to a school which can provide saloon-spa-yoga centre and other stuff instead of stressing only on the most important thing, i.e., education. Looks like having those lavish amenities is required to be acknowledged as a prestigious school in today's world.

It may interest some of you that Ophrah was trying to produce a school to produce leadership qualities in girls. Her idea was that girls can produce great changes for the future, something lacking in South Africa.